American actress Kimberly Williams-Paisley was born on September 14, 1971 in Rye, New York. She has been active since she was 13 years old, beginning with performances in her school. At one point, she directed the musical revue at Rye High School, where she studied. She eventually took a drama degree at the Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, but she left midway to appear in her first film, Father of the Bride.
Williams-Paisley is perhaps best known for her role in the aforementioned movie, which stars Steve Martin and Diane Keaton. In the film, she plays the bride—Annie Banks, who has decided to marry a man from an upper-class family (George Newbern) despite having only known each other for a few months. The film was a success, and spurred a sequel in 1995, this time revolving around her character’s pregnancy; both events make Martin’s character go insane, with the realization that his daughter is growing up.
She since went on to finish her drama degree, and afterwards appeared in several television shows and movies. One of her more notable early roles came in 1996, when she played the lead in the drama series Relativity. Despite audience support and critical acclaim, the series suffered low ratings and was consequently cancelled after 17 episodes. In 2000, Williams-Paisley took on another lead role, this time in the fantasy miniseries The 10th Kingdom, where she plays a troubled young woman who eventually commits to save Prince Wendell’s (Daniel Lapaine) kingdom from destruction.
Williams-Paisley’s most recent regular television role is on the sitcom According to Jim. In the series, she plays the role of Dana Gibson, the sister-in-law of lead character Jim (Jim Belushi). She often teams up with her sister and his wife Cheryl (Courtney Thorne-Smith) in thwarting his antics to make things (comically) easier for him.
She is married to country singer Brad Paisley; the two got married in 2003.